Teen: Prom ban uproar ‘out of proportion, but it’s cool’

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   >> connecticut high school senior who had been banned from prom will be allowed to attend after all. the school 's headmaster reversed her decision over the weekend. we'll talk to james tate and his prom date in a moment. first, nbc's mara schiavocampo is at shelton high school with the latest. good morning.

   >> reporter: good morning, matt. what a week it's been. what started out as a high school disciplinary case turned into an international story as hundreds of thousands expressed outrage that one young man's romantic gesture meant he'd have to miss his prom. now for all of those supporters, a victory. for the masses known as team tate it was the news they had been waiting for.

   >> i have decided to implement alternate consequences on a case-by-case basis beginning with james tate .

   >> reporter: school officials changing the policy to allow high school senior james tate to go to the prom.

   >> i thought it was dead and gone. this is a pleasant surprise.

   >> reporter: it started with the writing on the wall . a little over a week ago, tate , an a.p. scholar and cocaptain of the golf team snuck onto the school premises overnight taping this message to the wall. while rodrigues said yes there was trouble for tate . he was charged with trespassing and banned from the prom.

   >> i told her for a long time i was going with her, but i was waiting for a special time to ask her. i did it and this is what happened.

   >> reporter: the news prompted a social media uprising. supporters outraged that a grand romantic gesture would be punished. almost 200,000 people joined the let james tate go to the prom facebook page. messages with the hash tag team tate flooded twitter and the town mayor got hundreds of e-mails from all over the world.

   >> china, japan, australia, italy.

   >> reporter: every last one supporting tate .

   >> it doesn't make sense. there has to be common sense .

   >> reporter: after initially digging in her heels, saturday headmaster beth smith , known for being a rigid disciplinarian caved to the pressure, reversing her decision.

   >> i never thought such a decision would lead to international notoriety as i make tough, unpopular decisions on a daily basis.

   >> reporter: tate 's facebook page is now full of congratulatory messages, but happiest of all, the young man who finally got his ticket to the big dance . now support for tate continues. we posted a poll on today.com asking if school officials were right to reverse the decision, 83% said yes, school officials did the right thing. matt, back to you.

   >> mara schiavocampo, thank you very much. james tate and his prom date sonali are with us now exclusively. good morning to you both.

   >> good morning.

   >> i thought you were toast. seriously, when the headmaster ms. smith said she was upholding the decision wednesday or thursday i thought you guys were done. when did you get the good news?

   >> saturday morning. i woke up to my parents on the phone getting word that there would be a press conference at the school . we didn't know if we were supposed to go or not. so i just went golfing instead.

   >> had you had any further private discussions with the headmaster before she reversed her decision?

   >> yeah. i had one on friday morning in school . she told me that i was handling this well and if i needed any help for the stressful situation that she would be willing to help me out.

   >> talk about the stressful situation. let's talk about the reaction to all of this. it came from near and far. there were hundreds of thousands of people weighing in on websites. there was a sit-in. there were politicians weighing in. not the school class president but state and local politicians. can you describe what it's like to be in the center of the storm.

   >> it's weird. i went to the movies and someone asked for my autograph in the bathroom. i'll walk through a place and everyone's looking at me which i'm not used to.

   >> has the reaction toward you all been positive?

   >> everyone's been nice about it.

   >> what about you, james?

   >> yeah, definitely.

   >> were you surprised by the level of reaction to this?

   >> absolutely. i think this has been blown completely out of proportion, but it's cool.

   >> in announcing the decision, ms. smith said, i have decided to implement alternate consequences on a case-by-case bases beginning with james tate . we haven't heard what those alternate consequences may be. have you?

   >> no.

   >> not a clue?

   >> no.

   >> you said to our producer last night you feel you have done your time already and if there is another form of punishment, you would refuse it.

   >> oh, geez.

   >> that might sound a little ungrateful if they were to come and say, look, there is a school community service project you're required to take part in, you would agree?

   >> yeah. depending on -- yeah.

   >> yes, all right.

   >> we'll see what it is.

   >> this is your first day back at school . what do you think the reaction will be like?

   >> i think people will be excited. hopefully it will die out. it's been crazy at school .

   >> james, what reaction do you think you'll get?

   >> high fives, yeah. that kind of thing.

   >> i have to ask you. there were two others suspended with you, the so-called ladder man and the tape man. they are in studio now. they can go to prom, too?

   >> i believe so, yes.

   >> speaking of prom it's june 4. do you think it will be possible to just enjoy it as an event given all that's happened or is this going to overshadow everything?

   >> i think we'll still manage to have fun. yeah. it will be fun.

   >> a chance you may be voted king and queen of the prom. are you actively campaigning?

   >> no, not at all.

   >> you want to fade into the woodwork?

   >> as much as we can.

   >> congratulations. go forth. good luck.

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